Hollywood Legend Who Wanted To Punch Trump Now Says He’s Hoping For The Best

Robert De Niro wasn’t exactly a fan of President-elect Donald Trump back when he was still running against Democrat Hillary Clinton, In fact, the famous actor disliked the Republican nominee so much that he said he wished he could “punch him in the face.”

Now that the election is over, however, De Niro seems to be changing his tune and giving Trump a chance to prove himself.

While at the White House on Tuesday to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, De Niro said he was waiting to see what Trump will do and hoped it will be for the best.

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“I would only say that we’re all hoping, waiting and hoping, that he will lead the country in a way that’ll benefit everyone and benefit our neighbors around the world,” De Niro told The Hill‘s “In the Know” blog.

De Niro took multiple opportunities to attack Trump prior to Nov. 8. In a video that went viral, the actor said of Trump: “He’s a punk, he’s a dog, he’s a pig, he’s a con, a bulls— artist, a mutt who doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

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“It makes me so angry that this country has gotten to this point that this fool, this bozo, has wound up where he has,” De Niro added. “He talks how he’d like to punch people in the face? Well, I’d like to punch him in the face.”

Two days before the election, while speaking at the Hollywood Film Awards, De Niro admitted it was hard to think about anything else but the presidential outcome and advocated voting for Clinton.

“I know we’re here to celebrate movies in Hollywood. But it’s two days before a frightening election and the shadow of politics is hanging over us whether we like it or not. And it’s hard for me to think about anything else,” said De Niro.

“So let me lay it out right here. We have the opportunity to prevent comedy from turning into a tragedy,” he said.

De Niro claimed his physical threat against Trump was “more symbolic” but didn’t apologize or take it back.

“After he said the things that he said, anybody would want to punch him in the face,” De Niro told reporters. “Many people told me, ‘You said what I’d want to say.’ It’s just unacceptable to say those things in the situations that he said them in.”

De Niro added, “Now he’s president-elect and I just want to see what he’s going to do.”

In an effort to make sense of the hypocritical relationship between Hollywood and Trump, actor and comedian Tim Allen explained to Fox News host Megyn Kelly that there existed a definite double standard regarding fair treatment.

“What I find odd in Hollywood is that they didn’t like Trump because he was a bully,” Allen said Monday night on The Kelly File. “But if you had any kind of inkling that you were for Trump, you got bullied for doing that. And it gets a little bit hypocritical to me.”